A Story About Mitobe
by Kaminari31Hiroki
Summary: An AU One-Shot where the reason for Mitobe's mute personality is explained.


**Disclaimer: **Characters aren't mine hahhhhh I could never think of these amazing basketball idiots are you kidding me LOL.

**Warning: **If you have something against Deaf people then I suggest you stop while you're ahead.

**A/N: **So, as we all know Mitobe has never said a word throughout the whole series of KnB, so I thought of playing with the idea that he's HH (Hard of Hearing).

At first, I wanted to make him completely deaf with really amazing lip-reading skills, but then how would he know if someone was calling for him on the court or even be in the same class as Koga without having an interpreter? (I imagine him to have good grades so I don't think he would just wing everything) So I just made it realistic with him being HH.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I thought of this? It's cos I am an ASL (American Sign Language) student and I greatly respect the Deaf culture; I wouldn't mind if my child(ren) were Deaf at all, since it isn't a disability, and I wanted to portray that with this fic. Yes, yes, to most people being HH isn't being (_completely)_ Deaf, but there is a scale for this kind of stuff and you can be HH enough to be _considered_ Deaf and vice versa.

As for Mitobe's situation, I'm sure you'll understand his level of Deafness as you read on. Obviously, he can hear enough to play basketball, but I'll mainly focus on his school activities, basketball practices, and family time.

But just so you know, this story is for my ASL teacher because she's is just so amazing asdfghjklkjhgfd I've had a lot of fun in her class and I hope to have her again next year and the year after that~

Also, I don't know Japanese sign language so I won't focus so much on that; Mitobe doesn't really "sign" much anyways.

Please Enjoy and let me know how I did! Since this is my first time writing something like this...

* * *

"Onii-san, wake up!" said some young voices from around him, along with many hands trying to shake him awake. "Rin-nii, wake up, it's time to make breakfast!" Mitobe sat up with a small smile on his face, remembering that he was going to make pancakes for everyone.

After he got dressed and brushed his hair he went downstairs and put on an apron and began preparing breakfast. Some of his siblings were sitting patiently at the table and others were playing around elsewhere, but there was at least one that was watching him cook, ready to assist with anything. "You're making pancakes? Awesome! Do you need anything, Rin-nii?" asked one of his younger brothers. Mitobe looked up, thinking about what he wanted to add to the mix, and poked the child's cheek. "Ehh, really!? I'll get them for you!" the kid ran to the cupboard as Mitobe finalized most of the mix in his bowl. When the younger sibling came back, he handed him a bag of chocolate chips. As Mitobe began mixing the chocolate into the batter, his brother hugged his waist and exclaimed, "You're the best, Rin-nii!"

Once he placed the pancakes at the table everyone's eyes grew in amazement and gratitude to their older brother, and they all exclaimed "Itadakimasu!" when they saw his gentle smile.

On his way to school, Mitobe kept his eyes on the sidewalk in front of him and even double checked if there were any cars coming in his direction whenever he crossed the street. When he walked by a house he noticed that an old lady had spilled some fruit from her basket and was struggling to pick some of them up. Mitobe ran up to her and picked up the rest of the fruit and brought them inside the house for her. Before he left, the old woman tugged on his shirt and handed him an apple. As she thanked him with her soft, elderly voice, Mitobe focused on her lips, which were saying, "Thank you again, Rinnosuke-kun."

"So my sister told... Ridiculous, right? So then I... My mom said..." Koganei was explaining his day yesterday, but Mitobe could only hear so much of what he was saying. "That's crazy, right? It's unfair! I didn't do anything wrong so why should I be the one in trouble!?" Koganei turned to Mitobe as he said this and Mitobe only scratched his cheek at that.

The bell rang for classes to start and the two entered their classroom. As the two boys sat down in their seats, Mitobe placed a hand on Koganei's shoulder and nodded his head when his friend looked back at him. "I'm sure you'll be fine when you go home today." was what he meant by this notion, and Koganei understood it very well.

Before the teacher started roll call, Mitobe reached into his pocket and pulled out something small and flesh-colored and placed them into his ears. Suddenly, everything that was muffled or even silent came to life and he could hear more clearly. From the back of the room, he could now hear his homeroom teacher calling out the names of his classmates and even those who were talking to their neighbors. When Mitobe's name was called his teacher looked up and saw his raised hand and marked him present.

During lunch, Mitobe pulled out two bento boxes and handed one to Koganei. "Uwaahhh, Mitobe, your bento is amazing as always! Itadakimasu~" Koganei complimented upon smelling the delicious aroma and laying his eyes upon the food. Mitobe smiled as a thank you and removed his hearing aids before eating his lunch.

Some girls sitting at the tables next to them started talking amongst themselves, but only Koganei was able to hear them. "Hey, why do you think Mitobe-kun wears those _things_?" said one of them. "Is he death?" asked another, "No stupid, it's Deaf. Maybe he doesn't want to be like us."

"What a shame, to be disabled like that."

"Can he really play basketball?"

"Wasn't he a starter last year?"

"Enough!" shouted Koganei as he slammed his hands on their desk. Koganei seldom got angry so even Mitobe was surprised, especially since he was not aware of the girls' comments. "What gives you the right to talk like that?! Mitobe is an amazing player and he's _not_ disabled! He's in the same class as us, does the same work with the same quality as us, and is one of the best players I know so don't talk about him like you think you know everything!"

By this time, everyone in the room was staring at him. Mitobe stood up and put a hand on Koganei's shoulder and silently shook his head. "You don't have to do this, Koga." is what he meant, and everyone else in the room began to look at the girls.

"H-hey..." started the first girl, "He can't even t-talk. That's creepy, isn't it?" The other girls looked at her then back at Koganei, who was starting to calm down thanks to Mitobe's tranquil personality.

Mitobe tilted his head to the side, unsure of what she said just then, but he bowed in front of her anyway, as an apology for Koganei's actions and for not understanding why this commotion happened.

When the two got to the locker room to change into their gym clothes, Koganei was back to his normal self and practiced like he usually did, as did Mitobe. Before closing his locker, Mitobe took his hearing aids off and placed them into a small pocket in his bag where they would be safe and easy to find. Throughout the rest of the day, he played like any other player, maybe even better, with his amazing focus. His hook shots were getting better, and even Kiyoshi began having trouble blocking some of them. "Mitobe-kun, you seem on fire today. Anything good happen?" asked Kiyoshi as he pat Mitobe's back. Mitobe looked at Kiyoshi and shook his head then raised both of his hands, palms facing upward, and moved them as if balancing something on them.

"Hahaha, I assume that means your day was okay? Just keep up the good work, alright?" Kiyoshi said with a smile, and picked up a basketball to get ready for another one-on-one round.

He may not have looked like it, but the fact that Kiyoshi understood what he meant made Mitobe feel extremely happy.

Before leaving the locker room Mitobe put his hearing aids back on and walked out with Koganei, who was walking with his hands behind his head and a grin on his face. "It looks like you had fun today. Even Kiyoshi noticed!" I'm sorry about earlier in class... Those girls were talking badly about you and I couldn't just sit there listening to it. You understand, right...?"

Mitobe closed his eyes as he removed the hearing aids from his ears then took Koganei's hand and placed them into his and continued walking home. Koganei stood there for a few moments, trying to think of why Mitobe would do such a thing, but came to his senses when he remembered why Mitobe only wore them when he was in class and when he walked home. "Because the only things I need these for are the lessons and if any cars are nearby." Koganei said to himself, as if here were in Mitobe's shoes. Koganei looked back up and saw that Mitobe was a few yards away and ran to catch up to him.

"You don't like wearing these, do you?" asked Koganei when he caught up to his friend.

Mitobe nodded his head, confirming Koga's question.

"Why not...?"

Mitobe raised his hand above his head as if describing someone taller than him, then pointed to his lips, which were mouthing something.

"That's... Kagami? Wait, Kagami's a little shorter than that... Kiyoshi?"

Mitobe nodded his head again, then started to emphasize his lip movement.

"What he says? Um... 'Let's have fun~' right?"

Once again, Mitobe nodded his head.

"So you mean it's more fun without them?"

Again, Mitobe nodded his head, then took his hearing aids back from Koganei. "I... I don't like u-un-unnecessary noise." Mitobe said in a hushed voice.

Koganei was shocked, but he didn't show it on his face; he'd never heard Mitobe speak before. "Ah... That makes sense." Koganei said.

After Mitobe arrived home, as he soaked in the bath, he thought "Today was really fun. Maybe I should keep them off more often." and smiled when he heard some of his siblings knocking on the bathroom door and loudly reminding him to tuck them in soon.

* * *

(Afterwards; TLDR)

I feel like some subtle things should be explained...

-Mitobe doesn't mind being HH. When those girls were talking shet about him he was having a perfectly fine lunch since he didn't know what they were talking about.  
-Mitobe not only wants to keep his hearing aids safe by taking them off when he plays, but he has more fun because there's no background noise to bother him; the squeaking of the shoes on the court, the bouncing of the ball, and his teammates are all he wants to hear.  
-He doesn't wear them at home because his family is naturally loud and he cherishes the fact that his siblings express themselves so excessively.  
-He doesn't talk because he's shy and doesn't want to either accidentally talk louder than normal or have someone notice that he has a slight accent. I'm still debating on which reason I prefer but I guess I'll leave that to your imaginations.  
-And the biggest thing of all... Mitobe does not believe he is "disabled." Being deaf is not a disability because Deaf people can do everything hearing people can do EXCEPT hear. They can draw, play basketball, act, learn, teach, communicate, love, hate, enjoy music, even MAKE music, etc. And don't think that deaf people want to be hearing because 99.9% of Deaf people would rather stay deaf than suddenly hear :I

About that part when he actually talked... Mitobe (supposedly) has a seiyuu but I've never heard a peep out of him, and when I searched up his seiyuu on multiple websites Mitobe's name never came up :P

So I imagine him to have a deep yet gentle voice. Perhaps like Nakamura Yuichi as a mix of his roles as Ratio (Hamatora) and Miketsukami Soushi (Inu x Boku Secret Service). I really love Ratio's deep-ish voice but the gentleness of Miketsukami's is so amazing!  
But if not Nakamura-san then maybe Namikawa Daisuke? His voice acting skills are so top notch I always freak out when I find out he voices someone I never thought of him voicing. But I'm sure if NamiDai used his Takigawa Chris (Diamond no Ace) voice with a dash of his Kizuna Astin (Kamisama no Inai Nichiyobi/ Sunday Without God) voice then AHHH another perf combo for Mitobe~

Sorry I was rambling but, if you have any questions please comment them and I will answer them to the best of my ability!

P.S. Did you guys know what one of Mitobe's siblings goes to Shutoku? Cos I didn't asdfghjeifvu What if it's Takao that would be craaaazy XDDDDDDD


End file.
